Playtime
by Amaya Redfern
Summary: A young Hawke meets her Mabari for the first time. Cuteness ensues.


**A/N: This may give you cavities.**

Hawke was very young when she first met her mabari.

The twins had been born not long ago, so her mother was always busy taking care of them. She would never admit it, but the girl felt a little left out. Lonely.

She was out in the fields, playing by herself. She'd found a particularly long stick and fancied it a sword, whipping it about and jumping through the air at invisible foes. She was giggling in merriment when she heard a trampling sort of noise coming from across the field. She looked up just in time to have a small, fuzzy, slobbering thing pounce upon her, knocking her small body over with an "oomph!"

The young girl leaned up on her elbows, shaking the leaves and grass from her hair, and glared at the creature that now lay heavily on her stomach. It was some sort of young dog, though she didn't know the breed, and was currently giving her a goofy, panting grin, as if to say "What did I do?"

"You knocked me over, that's what," the girl replied to the unasked question. The puppy cocked it's head and gave a low whine, it's eyes wide and apologetic. A smile began to twitch unwillingly onto Hawke's face. The puppy saw this and starting giving her slobberly licks, causing the girl to erupt in laughter. "Alright, alright, I forgive you, just get off!"

The puppy obediently jumped off of her stomach and sat in the grass, his tail wagging madly. She grinned at him and wiped her face on her sleeve. "You should go home, your master is probably worried about you." She turned to continue playing in the field, but looked back to see the puppy following her. "Go on now…shoo!" She waved the stick still in her hand to shoo him a way, and the puppy jumped excitedly, putting his chest on the ground and his butt in the air, tail still wiggling. "Oh," the girl said, glancing at the stick. "You want to play?" she waved the impromptu toy a bit. The puppy barked and bounced around her feet before returning to his position. She giggled in spite of herself before saying "Okay, I'll throw it _one_ time. Alright?" The dog barked once again, clearly impatient for her to throw the stick. "Okay…fetch!" she threw the stick as far as her little arms could and the puppy went racing after it, missing it in the air by a few inches. He was just as pleased to retrieve it from the ground and came racing back, dropping the stick at her feet and bouncing around her again, barking. She laughed at his excitement but knew she had to tell him 'no.' "Hey, I said once! No more!" The dog barked again and bent down in front of the stick, begging her to throw it again. She gave a little resigned sigh. "Okay, _one more time._ And that's it! I mean it!"

* * *

An hour later, a man came running through the field, breathing heavy. He could see the puppy and young girl playing not far from him and slowed his running now. The girl did not notice him, as she was too busy playing 'knight and dragon' with the puppy.

"I shall slay thee, foul creature!" she shouted, brandishing the stick at the dog. She poked him in the chest with the stick and the dog fell over, playing dead. The girl giggled happily and hugged the puppy when he jumped back to his feet.

The man chuckled under his breath watching the two of them before saying "He is a foul one, that much is true."

The girl gasped and stood up straight, watching the man warily. He gave her an easy grin, not wanting to seem threatening. "Tell me, where did you get this dog?"

"He's not mine, ser. He ran up to me in the field and wanted to play."

"Ah, I see," the man said giving the dog a wry smile. "That's why you ran away."  
"Is he yours, ser?" the little girl's dejected tone tugged on the man's heartstrings.

"Not exactly. We were trying to imprint him on me you see."  
"Imprint?"  
"Ah…" he pursed his lips, wondering how he should explain. "Do you know why kind of a dog that is, girl?"  
"No ser."  
"That's a mabari, a very young one. At this age, we try to 'imprint' them on their masters. It means they sort of choose this person as their one master, and are loyal to them, for the rest of their lives." He reached out to let the puppy sniff him, but the dog backed away with a small growl. The man chuckled. "Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to like me very much." He watched as the dog nosed the girl's side, asking for her attention. "He's definitely taken a shine to you though…if I'm not mistaken, he may have gone and imprinted himself on you."

"Do you think so ser?" a smile bloomed on the girl's face as she scratched the dog behind the ears, clearly in love with the little puppy. The man smiled tenderly.

"I'll tell you what. Since he likes you so much, and if you promise to take very good care of him, I'll let you keep him. I won't tell anyone." He winked at her at the end, and she giggled once more.

"Oh thank you ser!" She threw her arms around the puppy's neck again, and he gave a happy bark.

"He's going to need a name though, don't you think?"

"Oh yes! Umm…" she looked at the dog and then back up at him. "What's your name, ser?"  
"Fergus."  
"Then I'll name him Fergus!" She smiled wide, and the man blinked, touched. "Thank you very much ser!"

"My pleasure girl. Now then, it's getting late, shouldn't you be getting home?"  
"Oh, yes! Thank you again!" she began jogging back through the field and whistling for the newly-named Fergus to follow her. The puppy gave the man a quick grateful lick on his hand before barreling after his new master. The man shook his head with a smile before turning back for the long trek home.

**YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE CUTE.**

**Happy Holidays! **


End file.
